Description

A global exploration of the eight remaining species of bearsand the dangers they face

Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenthcentury fairytales and the modern toy shop But as humans and bears come into evercloser contact our relationship nears a tipping point Today most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction Some such as the panda bear and the polar bear are icons of the natural world others such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear are far less known

In Eight Bears journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globetrotting journey to explore each bears story whisking listeners from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation effortsthe head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms a biologist known as Papa Panda who has led Chinas pandabreeding efforts for almost four decades a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near townsto reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations